Page 30 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

12 G. MURDOCK AND B. BREVINI

The expansion of the media system in the initial phase of capitalism’s
consolidation, between 1850 and 1950, can usefully be divided into two
phases. The first phase, from 1850 to the turn of the twentieth century, was
dominated by two developments: the rapid growth of the popular com-
mercial press and affordable printed novels, and the introduction and
expansion of the telegraph network.
The telegraph was the first technology to separate communications from
transportation. Previously, messages had to be conveyed in physical form,
as a letter, card or gift. With the universal adoption of Samuel Morse’s
coding system of dots and dashes, they could transmitted as digital pulses
over a wired network assuming material form only when they were deco-
ded and written out by the operator who received them. At the same time
this system continued to rely on the physical networks of roads, rail links
and ocean routes that transported the raw materials required to construct
and operate telegraph links and deliver messages to their addressees.
This basic principle holds true for contemporary digital media where, as
with the telegraph, communication is released from its physical casings and
translated into digital files. This has persuaded some commentators to
characterise digital media as weightless and immaterial, pointing to the
displacement of printed books and newspapers by e-books and websites,
and the substitution of streamed access to recorded music, films and
television programmes for physical disc storage. There are two very obvious
problems with his assumption. Firstly, the production of digital media still
involves the deployment of machines and spaces that consume material
resources and energy. The self-publishing author of an e-book working
from home is using a computer and printer, probably storing drafts in the
cloud, consuming power and relying on a physical network to reach
readers. Secondly, those readers can only access the text if they have a
laptop, smart phone or dedicated e-book reader, again very tangible arte-
facts that are assembled from complex combinations of materials and
production sites, rely on physical networks, and require access to energy to
power them
The history of the telegraph also reminds us that communication sys-
tems have come to play an increasingly central role in the co-ordination of
geographically dispersed corporate and governmental activities. Despite its
formal openness to anyone, cost rapidly tipped regular use of the telegraph
towards institutional rather than individual users. Consequently, addressing
the role of communication systems in exacerbating the climate crisis